A Cardiff-based LGBT organisation has been nominated for an award.
Drag Queen Story Hour UK, which aims to engage children’s creativity and love for reading stories, has been nominated for a British LGBT Award.
The 2021 awards celebrate the likes of Demi Lovato and Lil Nas X, bringing awareness to organisations and individuals who are making a positive impact within the LGBT + community.
Sab Samuel from Cardiff, the person behind the organisation, is also the drag artist Aida H Dee who regularly reads to young people all over the UK in an effort to diversify learning and acceptance.
Since it’s creation in December 2019, the enterprise has gone on to amass an impressive following online with Sab aka Aida being booked by the likes of Pride Cymru, Green Peace and more.
Despite falling under immense criticism and abuse online by various exclusionary feminist groups last year, the organisation has gone from strength to strength. From being featured on Forbes and even publishing their very own children’s book ‘The Three Goats United ‘ it is a full circle moment for the Welsh enterprise.
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“There’s lots of emotions. I’m obviously supper happy, I’m ecstatic”, Sab said.
“There’s lots of tension doing what I do because you’re constantly wary that you’re going to get hate from people. And this just feels like a complete relief. It’s just great to get the recognition I think.”
Last year, Sab was forced to cancel a Drag Queen Story UK event in Leeds following homophobic abuse online. According to a BBC article, the virtual event was cancelled by Leeds City Council as it “received a number of concerns.”
The remarks online labelled the performer as a misogynist, paedophile and guilty of sexually objectifying children. Disgustingly, death threats were also sent to the drag queen stating that he should be crucified. Despite the traumatic experience, Sab has continued to press on with Drag Queen Story Hour.
“I don’t think that there’s much to be done to ease the trauma due to the scale of hate I received,” Sab explained.
“It’s one of those things where you have to sit there and take it on the chin, no matter how many people stand up for you online. You battle through it and you come out the other side and you keep trying to do what you think is right in the world. It doesn’t put a plaster over the wound but it does make me feel much more positive about the future.”
Sab said parent’s positive feedback has kept him motivated to continue reading to children across the country. In one heartfelt instance, Sab recalled how a parent used Story Time as a way to help their child sleep following a traumatic experience.
“There’s a story I was told about a young person who went through extensive trauma and sometimes they struggled to sleep”, he said.
“And they told me the one thing that puts them to sleep is a story time from me. That type of good I’m doing is something I’d never expect to be doing. It’s so valuable to get messages from parents telling me about their young people who find what I do so helpful.”
Nominees for the British LGBT Awards 2021 can be found here.
